Report: Comms pros and leaders need to talk about AI more

It seems like the top subject on the minds of employees across countless industries is how AI will impact their livelihoods. Will it take jobs, as Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently posited? Will it alter workflows in a way that makes certain roles unrecognizable?

While the answers to these questions might take months and years to determine, a recent report found that while AI use is on the rise, many employees feel that communication about this groundbreaking tech from their leaders is still lacking.

According to data from Gallup, there’s a disconnect between AI adoption and communication about it. In 2024, 33% of employees surveyed by Gallup reported that their companies were adopting AI tools and working them into on-the-job processes — that number rose to 44% in 2025. However, while 15% of employees in 2024 said their company communicated a clear plan for AI use, just 22% reported that their companies were communicating a clear vision for on-the-job AI usage in 2025.

The big thing that stands out here is that employees want their employers to address AI and more companies still need to do so.

AI is a tool — talk to your employees about how it can fit in their workflow

Some steps internal comms pros can take to encourage more open communication about AI include:

• Work in lockstep with HR and IT to codify and share AI usage guidelines for the workplace so expectations and guardrails are clear.
• Share examples of how employees are using AI to help their job processes. This can encourage “shadow AI” workers to be more open with their own use of generative AI technology and create a culture of transparency.
• Collaborate with leaders to create messaging about AI’s impacts on the company and how it’ll look on a day-to-day basis and affect jobs.

On that last point, internal comms pros and leaders alike should pay attention to their tone when discussing AI just as much as the message itself. A great example of this is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella affirming the need for human beings to handle processes at his company, despite it being a leader in the AI revolution.  At a conference in Munich earlier this year, Nadella said  “The fundamental need of every person is to be able to use their time more effectively, not to say, ‘Let us replace you’.” This shows not only a human-centric position on AI comms, but good leadership communication skills that values employees as the central focus of company culture.

There are also lessons to learn from other leadership tactics on AI. For example, last week we covered Canva’s learning-first approach to AI, in which the company will provide funds for each employee to explore what platforms and products can best support their workflows going forward. Canva CTO Brendan Humphreys told the company’s employees that since AI was going to fundamentally change their jobs, investing in their upskilling was key for both their wellbeing at work and the business. Communicating AI change within a lens of opportunity for betterment of the people in an organization as opposed to something to be feared sets an important tone from leadership that can be modeled by others going forward.

When employees hear about major changes in process or policy from the top, it can become easier to internalize and act on them. Internal comms pros should work with leadership to create messaging that aligns closely not just with the tone and culture of the company, but the humanity of the employee base as well. Nailing that step is critical to earn employee buy-in during a time of such rapid AI-based change in the workplace.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.